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Tag: short story set in Ireland

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The Blood-Drawing Ghost: An Irish Vampiric Folktale

The Blood-Drawing Ghost is an Irish folktale found in “Tales of the Fairies and of the Ghost World”) (1895) collected and transcribed by Jeremiah Curtin, an Irish-American scholar among others.

John has three sweethearts but can only marry one. He hides his blackthorn walking stick in the haunted church graveyard, promising to marry whichever girl retrieves it. Kate agrees to go. As she nears the stick, a corpse in an open grave calls for help. Under its spell, Kate helps the corpse, which climbs onto her back and orders her to carry it through town.

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Leixlip Castle by Charles Maturin

“Leixlip Castle,” published in 1825, is a novel by Charles Robert Maturin, a renowned writer of Gothic literature and an Irish Protestant clergyman. Born in 1782 and passing away in 1824, Maturin left a lasting impact on the Gothic genre, with his most famous work being “Melmoth the Wanderer,” about at man selling his sould to the devil for an extended life.

“Leixlip Castle” continues this tradition, offering readers a haunting and atmospheric story set in the eponymous castle, where secrets, supernatural elements, and human folly intertwine to create a truly Gothic experience.In 1720 Jacobite supporter Sir Redmond Blayney, tired of the boasts of his Whig about the Siege of Derry, moves from the North of Ireland to rent Leixlip Castle in County Kildare outside Dublin. Over the following years his three daughters all begin suffering from supernatural and tragic events.

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Ken’s Mystery by Julian Hawthorne

“Ken’s Mystery” by Julian Hawthorne was first published in 1883 in Harper’s New Monthly Magazine. It’s a mystery story set in the late 19th century, following Ken, a young man home from an educational trip to Europe from which he has returned with an old and mysteriously banjo. He tells the story about what happened that halloween night in Ireland when he was walking home late and met a mysterious and beautiful woman in a graveyard who asked him to play his banjo for her. Later the same night, he met her again. But there was something strange about her, and as he played, he felt his life force being sucked out from him. The story is described as part vampire story and part Irish Samhain story, much inspired by Irish folklore.

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